UPDATED with Video: ‘Spider-Man’ Performer Falls Two Stories During Preview Show

We’ve had our fun with the variously amusing production setbacks and not-life-threatening injuries that have cursed Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, but it appears that someone may have been seriously hurt during a preview performance Monday night. As reported by multiple audience members via Twitter and followed up on by Gawker and Broadway World, one of the stunt performers playing Spider-Man fell — without a harness — from what’s estimated to be a two-story height into the orchestra pit of the Foxwood Theatre in Manhattan. Immediately after the impact, co-star Jennifer Damiano (who plays Mary Jane Watson) was heard screaming, “Someone call 9-1-1!” The specific nature of the performer’s injury is not known, but there is reason to believe he is not in critical condition.

UPDATED with video of the accident.IDW Publishing’s Whedonverse writer Brian Lynch attended the Turn Off the Dark preview performance on Monday, and tweeted the events as he witnessed them. Following the Spider-Man performer’s fal and Damiano’s screaming, the show was halted and the audience dismissed without explanation. Ambulances arrived not soon after.

The New York Police and Fire departments confirmed for Broadway World that a 31-year-old man was taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment, but no other specifics were officially released as of this writing. A emergency medical technician happened to be in the audience last night, and suggested things may not be as dire as they may sound.

I was in the audience and i’m an NY EMT. Although i am not involved with the care of the patient they didn’t use a back-board and collar so they don’t suspect spinal injury. The ambulance stayed on site longer then expected leading to believe the injury isn’t critical.

Additionally, film and television location resource OLV reported that the Spider-Man performer was “awake and talking.”

This terrible incident is but the latest in a serious of mishaps, injuries and delays that have become increasingly serious since production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark began. We reported last Friday that the Julie Taymor-directed, U2-composed musical’s official launch has been delayed until February of 2011, a move that came after a litany of problems: the show’s original stars, Alan Cumming and Evan Rachel Wood, bailed; one of the Spider-Man stunt performers broke both his wrists after being catapulted into the stage floor; another actor suffered a concussion; the first preview performance had to be interrupted five times due to problems with plainly unreliable acrobatic technology; and Reeve Carney, the actor who portrays Peter Parker/Spider-Man, has had to cut back his performances to just a few times a week due to the production’s uncommonly brutal physical demands.

We will update this post when we know more about the performer’s condition and the specifics of the accident. Everyone here at ComicsAlliance hopes the poor guy is going to be alright. Obviously, it’s about time the producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark gave some serious thought to shutting this turnoffthedarkmare down before anyone else gets hurt.

UPDATE

As is its wont, TMZ has obtained cameraphone footage of the accident. TMZ confirms the performer’s name is Christopher Tierney and describes him as the “main aerialist” of the production.

New York’s MyFoxNY reports that Tierney is hospitalized and in “serious” condition. Preview performances of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark have been postponed pending new safety measures and approval by Actors’ Equity Association, the union representing performers in the show.

“An actor sustained an injury at tonight’s performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. He fell several feet from a platform approximately seven minutes before the end of the performance, and the show was stopped. All signs were good as he was taken to the hospital for observation. We will have more news shortly.”

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